THANK YOU AMERICA FOR THE ART SHOWS

America is the only country that has open air, annual or bi-annual art shows. Thousands of them. This is why I have flown over 130 times back and forth from Israel to the USA. European countries are stuck in that respect, in the old fashioned concept that artists and art from overseas, will take away from their own artists and art. Poor Europeans, their artists, whom I met abundantly in Florence, Italy some years ago, at the Biennale, are starving. They teach, they work all kinds of jobs, very few of them live off their art. A typical European takes years to buy a piece, after examining the artist in a gallery – for years.

But the American artists, all of them, live off their art. On top of galleries, there are these art shows. And there is the deep respect Americans hold for art and artists. Many cultures worldwide really pity the artists, as if they could not make a proper living off something, so they became artists and will always be poor.

Americans buy art, also to support the artists. They empathize with our “tough” lives. Our lives are tough, but we are free. Freedom like ours almost does not exist, except for the super wealthy. We are the most super wealthy on Earth, because we do what we love and we get paid for it. We are the free spirits who invent what we want, then sell it. I feel very lucky. I have paid in pre-paid suffering for decades, though.

Patrons ask me again and again in my booth, “Why do you fly 6000 miles each way, over 130 times, instead of selling your work in Israel or Europe, which is next door to you?”

I thank America for its open mindedness. Its open arms. Its wisdom. Its grace and its genius business sense. I bring over with me a new blood and mindset which enriches the American artists. So do others who come from England, France, Columbia, Mexico and more. We foreigners make American art grow better. And we contribute to the river of talent and business. The Europeans, maybe, one day will adopt this freedom and open arms attitude towards talent that comes from overseas.

In the meantime, I humbly bow before the American way of life, its love and respect for art, its warm hearted embrace which for over 19 years has made me feel wanted, respected, even loved.

Thank you America.

*Read more about my journey to and through America in THE SECRET OF AMERICA, published in 2009 and available on Amazon to download for Kindle, and Goodreads.

Contact Yoram Gal with questions or for more information.